Truro Annual Town Meeting limits Seashore house size

Friday

Apr 28, 2017 at 7:00 AMApr 28, 2017 at 11:31 AM

By Ben GagnonBanner Correspondent

TRURO — With well over two-thirds in favor, voters at Annual Town Meeting established a cap on house size in the Cape Cod National Seashore on Tuesday night, then soundly defeated a petitioned article that would have extended house size limits to the entire town.

The controversial articles drew more than 350 voters to Truro Central School, with dozens forced to park across Route 6 in the Savory & Sweet Escape parking lot. The crowd delayed the start of the meeting until about 6:30 p.m., with it shrinking to about 200 by the meeting’s conclusion more than four hours later.

In other action, voters overwhelmingly approved allowing property owners the option of a second dwelling unit, which must meet certain guidelines, and can only be rented on a year-round basis but not necessarily in the affordable category. And without a single amendment, voters approved the $18,480,032 operating budget. The proposed $465,617 Proposition 2½ operating budget override also enjoyed strong support, with only about 20 residents holding up their voting cards to oppose the measure, which is subject to a ballot election on Tuesday, May 9 at Truro Community Center.

On the question of capping house size in the Seashore, seven Town Meeting voters spoke in favor of Article 32, and seven spoke against it.

“If you want to preserve Truro, preserve all of it, don't just pick on Seashore residents,” Priscilla Silva, a homeowner in the Seashore, said. “How can you impose restrictions on my property when my family’s been here for 300 years, but you’re not willing to impose the same restrictions on your own properties, outside the [Seashore] district?”

Planning board Chair Steve Sollog addressed the question of applying a house size cap on just one portion of the town. “It’s a sacred place, it’s the driving engine of our economy,” he said. “We’re not singling out the Seashore for punishment, we’re singling it out because it’s the most valuable part of Truro.”

Truro resident Anne Greenbaum echoed Sollog’s comments. “We’re not picking on the Seashore, we’re protecting the Seashore because it belongs to all of us,” she said.

Voters easily approved the house size cap, with only about 25 voters holding up their cards in opposition.

Next up, weary attendees heard only a few comments on Article 33, the petitioned article that would have extended the house size cap town-wide. While some speakers liked the idea of a town-wide house size limit, several cited the lack of vetting of the petitioned article that was submitted on March 14.

As for the bylaw amendment allowing property owners to build a second dwelling unit only if they rent it year-round, planning board member Jack Riemer called it “the nuclear option,” and said it would increase the year-round population by 50 percent.

Susan Kurtzman, owner of Jobi Pottery, said her son and his fiancé couldn't find a place to live in the Truro area, and commute every day from Yarmouth. Others told similar stories.

Police Chief Kyle Takakjian said that in 1988 all but four Truro police officers lived in town, but now, out of 19 employees, only four live in Truro. Truro resident Richard Wood says he knows a family that lives in a campground for eight months and then stays in a winter rental, year after year.

One article took longer than expected — and that was the article that allows Truro police to issue tickets to cars that are illegally parked, instead of only being able to tow them. “[The change] adds to a perception, basically, that we're mean in Truro,” poet Keith Althaus said. “Welcome to Truro, just kidding.” The measure passed by a voice vote.